17
ELLIS
I put the phone down and took another look at the construction plans on the new development project my agent sent over. The project was coming along nicely, even if it did require constant supervision night and day.
Through it all, my mind kept drifting back to Mckenna and our cub. I got it all mapped out in my head, just as sure as I had the development under control. I planned to renovate my house, so it wasn’t such a guy pad. I even went down to the local jewelry store and picked out the most perfect diamond for the ring. My parents were happy, hell my brothers even more so. And one day when Celeste was better, I would tell her too.
Planning to pop the question to Mckenna was the easy part. Anytime the construction project started to get on my nerves, all I had to do was lean back in my chair and imagine proposing to her. I would hand her a bunch of long-stemmed roses and ask her to make me the happiest man in the world—like she hadn’t already. That scene calmed me right down every time.
Planning how to break the news to Brayden and the rest of the family—well, that was a different kettle of fish. To begin with, I couldn’t say anything until well after the wedding. I didn’t want to steal Brayden’s thunder by shifting the attention to Mckenna and me when everyone should be celebrating him and Julia.
Then there was the little detail of Mckenna being pregnant. Once the news broke, the family would count on their fingers and figure out we did around the time of the engagement party. They would calculate we were screwing around when we should have been supporting the bride and groom.
Not to mention the other bomb that I messed around with Mckenna back in college and even as far back as high school. Brayden would explode. Explode didn’t begin to cover it. He would disown me. He would probably knock me out. He would do everything to make sure I never came near his sister again. Was this thing really worth losing my oldest friend?
Heaven knows I spent enough time over the last weeks thinking about it. I decided to propose to Mckenna after Brayden and Julia came back from their honeymoon. All the commotion of the wedding would die down, and I could have a nice heart-to-heart with Brayden. Maybe I could satisfy him with knocking me out. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t come after me with a double-barreled shotgun.
Enough about that. Now I’d go back to thinking about the actual proposal. Don’t think about the negatives. Focus on the positives. That was the best strategy.
So that’s why I left the ring at home when I went out to the rehearsal and the dinner afterward. I wasn’t planning on proposing to her then. Mistake number one. I showed up to the rehearsal, but I didn’t see Mckenna anywhere. She and Julia and Helena and all the bridesmaids were sequestered in a separate part of the hall—sequestered for real this time, unlike the bachelor and bachelorette parties where we all just pretended sequestered.
Brayden and the guys had to go be guys in a different part of the hall. Brayden got flustered putting on his suit. Sam had to tie his bow tie for him because he never wore one before. I took out my own personal tailored tux and put it on while the others tried on their rentals. When I got back into the room, Brayden’s eyes bugged out when he saw me. “Man! You look like you just robbed a bank. You look like Al Capone or something.”
I had to laugh. “That’s what a tailored suit will do for you. You could spend a million dollars on the right suit, and it would still look like chopped liver if you didn’t get it tailored.”
He stared at me like he’d never seen me before in his life. “You really know how to knock them dead, don’t you? I guess that’s one of the perks of living the billionaire lifestyle.”
“It comes with the trade, man,” I told him. “When you attend enough industry balls and evening wear conferences as I do, you learn a few things. They don’t make life any more enjoyable, though.”
I didn’t see Mckenna until the actual rehearsal. There I was, standing in line with the other groomsmen when she came strutting down the aisle with the bridesmaids. She looked a thousand times better than the bride. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I stood transfixed and ogled her luscious curves sauntering down the aisle. Flowers decorated her hair, and a close pearl choker accentuated her willowy neck.
What would it be like to watch her walk down the aisle at her own wedding? My bear could barely handle it. I let my imagination run away with me. I let myself fantasize I was the nervous groom, and she was coming to meet me at the altar. Her eyes glowed right at me all the way down the aisle. Her lips spread into a bright smile.
Then she slipped out of my sight again. I had to turn to face the altar, so all I could see were Brayden and Julia. Mckenna and the other bridesmaids stood behind my line of sight, but I didn’t listen to the rehearsal service. She occupied my whole awareness even when I couldn’t see her.
Did she think about me? Was she imagining marrying me? Would me proposing to her come out of left field, or would it fall into her vision of us together? Either way, it was meant to be. I Claimed her, she let me. This was it. Nothing could keep us apart. It was just a matter of time before we did the human traditions.
After the rehearsal, everyone went to the dining room for the rehearsal dinner. Long trestle tables stretched the length of the room. Name cards sat at every place, and what do you know, I found myself sitting right next to Mckenna.
I murmured to her in an undertone so no one could hear me. “How have you been?”
“Not too bad. You really had Julia and Brayden worried when you got so busy with work these last few weeks. They wondered if you would show up today.”
My head whipped around to stare at her profile. “Were you worried, too? Did you worry I wouldn’t show up? Did you think I would pull a jailbird on you and fly away?”
Her ears turned pink. “I won’t lie to you. I wasn’t sure if you had second thoughts. I wondered what could be so important that you wouldn’t even text me to say hi.”
“I’m sorry you worried,” I told her. “What was so important was planning the rest of our lives. I couldn’t exactly go public on our relationship in the middle of Brayden’s wedding, could I?”
She whirled around to face me. “Is that the only reason?”
“Of course, it is, Mckenna. Don’t you think it kills me that I can’t shout it from the rooftops that you’re having my cub? It’s torture.”
A beautiful flush spread across her cheeks. What it did to me to be sitting nose to nose with her and not be able to kiss her in front of all those people! “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“You never have to doubt me. I’ll always be right here, but I can’t make my move until all this kafuffle is over.”
She studied me for a brief instant. Then she nodded toward the door. “Do you feel like getting out of here?”
I swallowed my pate. “You mean, like, ditch the rehearsal dinner?”
“Not ditch it. Just....you know...for a second.”
I glanced around. She wasn’t actually suggesting this, was she?
I slid back my chair and strolled out of the room. I wasn’t sure where to go, so I just went wherever. I had no idea where I was going when I bumped into her coming from the other exit door. She headed straight for me and took hold of my hand.
My heart threatened to break through my ribs. If only I’d brought the ring, I would have gone down on one knee right there in the lobby. She didn’t give me a chance to say anything. She veered off into the garden outside.
The instant we got out the door, she was all over me. She mangled my lips between her teeth. She slithered her hands inside my jacket to grope all over my chest and under my armpits. She tugged at my belt until I had to grab her hands to stop her dropping my drawers right there in front of God and everyone.
I hustled her into a corner to give us some protection in case anybody walked out on us. Once out of sight, I couldn’t hold her back. She whipped my belt open and dove her hand into my pants. She found my hard-on all ready for her. She bent down and gave it a nasty little suck. Oh, she could suck the life out of any man with those wicked lips of hers. She didn’t finish me off, though.
She stood up and flashed me her come-on-and-take-me eyes. I never could resist those eyes, especially not with her curvy pregnant body so incredibly hot in my hands. I spun her around and shoved her voluptuous chest against the wall. She squeaked in surprise, but I already hitched up her skirts and trailed my cock between her alabaster thighs. I found the engorged slit between her frilly petals, and I was in.
She crammed that ass back against me. Forget delicate and loving and tender. This was all brutal passion and heinous excitement. A few blistering strokes, and she whined in primal desire. Her juices singed my cock, but I wouldn’t stop. I wanted this as much as she did, and we had a dining hall full of guests probably wondering where we were. We had to be quick.
Her ass gave me a dozen hard slaps, and her head pitched forward. Her hair curtained off her face, but angelic whining orgasms rippled from her ruby lips. She gushed all over my cock, and I poured out my soul into her foaming vent.
An explosion of laughter and applause echoed out of the hall and distracted me from doing anything else. Her head shot up, and she shook the hair out of her face. She glanced around. She was thinking the same thing. We had to get back in there.
She straightened her skirt and disappeared while I worked overtime to get myself together. I just nailed my pregnant mate in the garden outside her brother’s wedding venue. Even if she weren't my real wife just yet, she would be soon.
She straightened her dress, gave me a quick kiss on the lips and ran back inside.
I zipped up and adjusted my bow tie. I shrugged my jacket into place and started for the door. My foot crossed the threshold when a hand closed around my arm like a vise. I spun around and came face to face with Brayden.
He kept his voice to a low rumble, and he hissed through his teeth “You think you can come in here and screw my little sister? You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you for this.”
“Brayden!” I stammered. “I never....”
“Shut up, you prick! You back-stabber!” His face quivered all over in blind rage. “I just saw you outside. I just saw you bone my sister through that window over there. I never should have invited you to this wedding. I never should have trusted you. I should have known you would do something like this.”
I thought fast. “Listen, Brayden, it’s not what you think.”
“Stay away from my sister!” he snapped. “Stay away from her, or I’ll take this to the clan. Do you hear me?”
He turned on his heel and stormed off, back to the hall.